Baku, Azerbaijan, April 27
By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:
Iran's gas consumption over the first month of the current Iranian calendar year (starting March 20) has increased by 30 percent year-on-year. Abdolreza Ebrahimian, an official with the National Iranian Gas Company, has said that unexpected snowfall and cold weather in several provinces has led to the high consumption of gas, Mehr news agency reported. According to the official, 18.2 billion cubic meters of gas were produced in the mentioned period. Meanwhile, Iranian housing sector has consumed about 8.3 billion cubic meters of gas, the official added.
However, the gas consumption of hydroelectric power plants has dropped by 12 percent due to increased level of rainfall, Abdolreza Ebrahimian said. Iran's gas refining capacity is above 550 million cubic meters per day, while the country uses more refining capacity in winter than summer due to soaring consumption level volume in cold seasons.
Iran produced 178.1 billion cubic meters of gas during the last fiscal year (ended on March 20) and the country's sweet gas production increased by 6 percent last year, compared to the previous year.
The Islamic Republic holds 34 trillion cubic meters of proven gas reserves, sharing 18.2 percent of total global gas reserves, which puts the country in the top of the world's gas holders list.